Essayist speaks to HC graduates

Saturday

May 25, 2013 at 6:00 AMMay 28, 2013 at 2:00 PM

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Most commencement speakers are more than happy to dole out personal advice on how graduates may better their futures, but not Anne Fadiman, the acclaimed essayist whose book “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1997.

Instead, Ms. Fadiman, who teaches writing at Yale University, told the 701 new alumni of the College of the Holy Cross on Friday that their lives might be enriched if they took something from the stories of two people who had become close to her: Lia Lee, a woman crippled by severe epilepsy who found herself caught in a cultural war over her treatment, and Marina Keegan, a budding young author and playwright who was killed in a car crash just days after her graduation.

Ms. Fadiman told those at the college's 167th commencement the two women offered examples on how individuals could live life to the fullest.

She said Ms. Lee was born to a family of Laotian war refugees and was afflicted with epilepsy at age 4.

The woman, whose life was chronicled in Ms. Fadiman's award-winning book, was snared for years in a tug of war between her doctors, who wanted to treat Ms. Lee with modern drugs and therapies, and her parents, who believed in the ways of her people and that their daughter was a shaman who was spiritually chosen as a host to a healing spirit.

Ms. Fadiman's book opened up a dialogue, with many in the medical community becoming more accepting of the traditional beliefs of individuals from vastly different cultures.

Ms. Fadiman said Ms. Lee was in a vegetative state most of her life and never talked to her. Yet, she said, the woman profoundly influenced her life by getting her to consider other perspectives.

“See things from the other point of view ... For the most part, we see the world as we are,” said Ms. Fadiman. “It's not easy to walk a mile in another's moccasins.”

Ms. Fadiman said she was also touched by Ms. Keegan, who was a student in one of her classes.

She said Ms. Keegan — whose mother, Tracy, attended Friday's graduation — was a prolific writer who was politically active on the Yale campus.

Ms Fadiman said her youthful charge, a native of Wayland, would never give up and always believed there could be a better day.

She recalled that Ms. Keegan once took part in a boat race and, despite capsizing several times due to gale force winds, completed her goal of making it to the finish line.

Ms. Fadiman told the graduates to use Ms. Keegan, who died at age 22 when a car that was being driven by her boyfriend rolled over in Dennis last May, as an example and to take on challenges while staying away from endeavors that they could easily complete.

“I ask you to finish every race, even if your hands are bloodied,” she said, noting that Ms. Keegan's writings will be published in a book this summer.“Never give up.”

During Friday's festivities, the college also awarded honorary degrees to Ms. Fadiman; Sister Janet Eisner, the longtime president of Emmanuel College; and Jack D. Rehm, a 1954 graduate and school philanthropist who once headed Meredith Corp., which publishes a number of family-oriented magazines.